1. LATELY THE TEAMS HAVE...
Tonight opens up the third home-and-home series for the Flyers this season as they take on the Islanders… The Flyers own a 2-1-1 record in the previous four games of home-and-home series (Washington: 1-0-1 & Columbus: 1-1-0)… The Islanders come in as the hottest team in the Eastern Conference and tied for the hottest team in the entire NHL after winning eight of their last 10 games, going 8-2-0 in that span… The Isles have also won eight of their last nine games on the road, only one of which was a Metropolitan Division opponent (Dec. 20 @ NYR, 5-3)… The Flyers have dropped three of their last four games, going 1-2-1, and allowing an average of four goals-per-game in that span… The Flyers are in second place (53 pts) and the Islanders (45 pts) are in last place in the Metropolitan Division, with only eight points separating the two teams.

2. FLYERS-ISLES
The home-and-home series will wrap up the season series between the Flyers and Islanders, marking the first Division opponent they will not play again for the remainder of the regular season… The Flyers are 2-0-0 against the Islanders this season, outscoring them 10-4 in the process… Vincent Lecavalier (3g-1a) and Claude Giroux (1g-3a) lead the Flyers with four points in the season series… It's the second and final meeting of the year at home against the Islanders, where the Flyers have dominated lately - owning a 16-1-2 mark since 2007-08, which included winning 13 straight games from 10/13/07 to 4/9/11… Overall, they have a 74-33-11-4 record in 122 games in Philadelphia… This is the 248th all-time meeting between the two clubs, which is the third-most all-time against any other opponent for the Flyers (NY Rangers & Pittsburgh Penguins)… Of the 247 previous meetings, the Flyers have won 128 of them.

3. THIS, THAT & THE OTHER
The Flyers power-play has posted at least a goal in four consecutive games and in six of their last seven contests, going 24 percent (7-for-29)… The Islanders have a 3-10-3 record within their own Division, while the Flyers own an 8-6-2 mark against the Metropolitan… The Isles are 17-4-2 when they score at least three goals and are 2-19-5 when they do not… Kimmo Timonen has 11 of his 15 points this season on the power play with all 11 of his points being assists… Isles' Matt Martin leads the NHL with 237 hits - has has also led the NHL in hits in each of the last two seasons.

4. Player to watch FLYERS: Wayne Simmonds (RW: 17)
For the second straight game Simmonds is your player to watch after he has posted four assists and five points in his last two games… Simmonds also leads all NHL players with 11 goals since Dec. 17 - over his last 15 games - and is tied for 2nd in the NHL with 20 points since Dec. 17… He has recorded at least a point in 12 of his last 15 games during that stretch… Simmonds' 16 goals and nine power-play goals lead the team, and he has taken over second place in overall scoring on the Flyers with 35 points… Against the Islanders, Simmonds has nine points (3g-6a) in 17 games.

5. Player to watch ISLANDERS: John Tavares (C: 91)
Tied with Simmonds for the second-most points since Dec. 17 is Tavares, with eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in his last 14 games… He has recorded points in nine of his last 11 games, posting eight goals and 11 assists, including four multi-point games… The first-year captain of the Islanders ranks second overall in the NHL in scoring with 57 points (21g-36a) in 48 games… Tavares has 10 goals and 19 points in 24 games against the Flyers in his career, including a goal and assist in the two meetings this season… Tavares was chosen to his first Olympic Games as a member of Team Canada earlier in the month.

QUOTABLE
"Back-to-back games against the Islanders, it's going to be a huge test for us and we have a few Division opponents coming up so, you say it every week, but it's another big week for us coming up."- Luke Schenn